


Principium Vicissim Sit

by thawinoakenshield



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Sharon Carter (Marvel), F/M, Fluff with Angst, infinity war fix-it, story mechanics what are those?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 19:04:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15802692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thawinoakenshield/pseuds/thawinoakenshield
Summary: Very short story skimming through the fixing of the mess that is Infinity War in four parts, three of which are marvel ladies.





	Principium Vicissim Sit

And when it all was done? When the name ‘Thanos’ had been all-but wiped from existence, a titanic gap in the universe filled with goodness (from an unfractured childhood among the Zehoberei and Kamaria’s continued existence across the galaxy to an almost unmarked New York, its attack from the trickster being a one-off event styled to reduce the ego of a certain Thunderer), the Director of SHIELD turned to their colleagues - a reforming former boss in the corner of their eye – and then to Steve Rogers.

 

_“This is your chance for a do-over. Make it right.”_

 

But for those times to come to pass, human blood had to be shed, too.

 

 

 

_~~_

 

 

Carol Danvers had imagined her return to Earth for years. It was a by-product of not being there for a decade or three. Even if her ageing process had slowed, and her powers meant that residing there would be a waste of resources when Earth needed her to protect their interests elsewhere, it did not mean that she had not felt every second pass. Her landing was swift, two feet planting themselves firmly – a little too firmly, actually, as the concrete was going to need repairing – at the source of the transponder signal.

 

To find Agent Coulson and two women staring at her with various expressions. Phil looked pleased, the brunette bemused and the blonde thoughtful. “Uh. Captain Marvel, reporting for duty,” she offered them, waving her hand in a vague salute. “Fury called? He having a sick day?”

 

“Something like that.” The brunette, accompanied by a grim smile, told her before nodding. It seemed, to Carol, that she was steeling herself. She could relate. The other two were quiet. From what she remembered of Phil, it surprised Carol.

 

“O-kay. So, maybe we rally the troops and work out a battle plan, then? I’m guessing it’s something big considering, well, _me_.”

 

“That’s a good call. Think you can offer us a lift, Cap? I’ve got coordinates here…” He lifted a miniature television screen – a phone, she quickly realised – and Carol took in the positioning, working out the route in her head. Air force, through and through, with additional super skills.

 

“Yeah, sure. Just kinda, I dunno, hug each other and we’ll be there before you know it.”

 

Coulson chuckled and opened out his arms. The woman who had spoken looked a little uncomfortable but shuffled towards him anyway – but the blonde had not moved. “Sharon, we’ve gotta get moving,” he said to her, his tone gentle. No response. “Agent 13. We can grieve later, I promise.”

 

That seemed to do the trick. Sharon’s spine straightened, and she nodded silently before entwining herself with the others. It was a little awkward at first, carrying three people in her hands whilst flying across the globe, but Carol got used to it.

 

One thing impossible to become accustomed to? The population of the world – and possibly the galaxy - having been decimated by the Mad Titan.

 

~~

 

“Do you really believe what you said in there?” Steve found himself asking, shutting the door behind them. Queen Shuri – who hated the title and everything about it but had taken it on as gracefully as she had everything else, a cool exterior only broken when all the foreigners were safely out of sight and only Okoye could see the extent of her grief – had provided temporary accommodation for them all in various wings across her palace.

 

But Steve’s thoughts were spiralling, far away from the grief and the pain and the helplessness. For the first time since the snap, he was completely distracted. “The way you talked about them- _collateral damage_ , all of it – it’s like you’re seeing us all as expendable counters.”

 

“That’s what someone in my position has to do. I don’t have superpowers and frankly I can’t snap Thanos’ neck myself. So, I’ve gotta spin everyone else round until the puzzle’s solved. My feelings – and yours – don’t matter. They can’t.” From her position at the other side of the room, Sharon had stopped and turned around to face him slowly, eyes narrow. “What else was I supposed to say, Steve? Talk about how Sam’s my friend and cry about how awful it all was? That would’ve helped nobody-”

 

“’Some of our hitters are out but we’ve still got good men in play.’ That’s what you said. Right before you agreed to let Tony send himself – and Thor and Scott and a complete stranger - out on a suicide mission!” She had turned away again, perching on the edge of the bed with her back facing towards him.

 

“They’re the best people for the job.”

 

“Bullshit.” Steve’s jaw clenched, glaring at the back of her head now. “That’s- if this was completely emotionless, completely logical, you would’ve sent me. I’m-”

 

“Compromised!” she interrupted, falling backwards onto the bed and staring up at him. “Look at yourself now and tell me you’re not compromised. Lang’s the only one who’s figured out how to travel through this mini-universe – and he’s aged a decade and a half learning it. Nebula knows where the power stone has been, and she knows Thanos - better than any of us. Thor is the only one with a hope of getting through to Loki – who we need on our side for the space stone – and has experience with the reality stone. And Tony? Aunt Peggy’s godson, my wreck of a cousin who vetted my first boyfriend through the CIA database? The guy who lost everything over and over and over again? Tony’s the best damn engineer the world’s ever known – if anyone can make a gauntlet, dwarf-approved or not, it’s him. And then, he’s gonna talk down Strange and take the information from Shuri’s notes – which I bet he’s already freaking memorised because this is Tony we’re talking about – and he’s gonna get the mind stone.”

 

Her expression looked determined and Steve felt that she was almost daring him to disagree with her. So, for a moment, he merely kept quiet. Waited to see if there was more. Watched her watch him. These were all arguments he had heard before – it was easy to believe that all views had been put forward at that meeting – but Steve remained unconvinced. Wary.

 

Angry at being left on the side whilst Sam and Bucky and more people than any of them could count were dead.

 

“And when it doesn’t work?”

 

Her eyes fluttered shut and Steve could almost feel her biting back her anger. Shaking his head, he did not wait for an answer and made for the door. Closed it behind him and leaned his forehead against the wall, trying to will his thoughts to quieten. His heart to beat a little slower.

 

 

~~

 

 

Natasha was in the atrium when a glowing portal appeared, watching from the edge as the travellers returned. Scott Lang, Thor, Thanos’ daughter, some guy with a fancy cloak – and decidedly no Tony. Her heartbeat had picked up at that and she felt a stab of pain, suspecting the worst and only having that confirmed when Thor immediately sought out Steve. Ignoring the sensation of her stomach falling out the bottom of her stomach, she was in the process of carrying out a quick headcount when her eyes fell upon the gauntlet for the first time, six jewels infused in its knuckles.

 

It was beautiful, in an ethereal way. One accessory that had the power to both cause and, if they were right, rectify so much pain. Lang held it tentatively, as if he expected it to explode. Natasha could only wonder at what he had seen. The lines on his face had deepened since Berlin and there was more than a smattering of grey in his hair that had once been matt brown.

 

Rhodes had joined the boys – her boys, really, except for Clint who was still at her side – and Natasha could feel the tension from across the room. “Where is he, Thor?” The question had been on her mind, too. But Natasha knew herself well enough to know that having an answer would not ease her mind. “Where the hell is Tony?”

 

Thor, who had not been himself for a while now, just shook his head. “We must ensure his sacrifice was not in vain. I am sorry, James Rhodes.” A pause. The teenage Queen was coming towards them now, obviously eager to cut short this event and restore her brother, and she was not the only one.

 

The woman, the new SHIELD agent, one Natasha had not worked with personally – Johnson. Natasha’s eyebrows furrowed. Her direction was not towards the rest of them if anything it took her away from the makeshift gauntlet. Right into the path of-

 

Bruce.

 

Johnson’s palms hit the floor, a shockwave crossing the floor and sending Bruce flying. His head hit the wall with a thud that would have been concerning if not for the greenish hue that was quickly spreading through his skin.

 

Cursing, Natasha pushed Clint backwards – just as the Hulk let out a mighty roar. All who had, somehow, not noticed the commotion immediately turned towards the Hulk-

 

All except a shimmery blur. One that Natasha would not have seen at all if the sun had not been at the right angle. One that Natasha would not have recognised if she had not been intimately familiar with SHIELD cloaking technology.

 

To Natasha, it happened in slow motion. The gauntlet was wrenched from Lang’s grip. It hovered in the air. The finger and thumb seemed to join. Then a click.

 

Clint, beside her again, was on his knees. Dust had formed around his ankles, dust that was slowly forming little pink shoes. When her gun began to feel weightier, Natasha dropped it to the floor, terrified to believe in the sight of the growing metal arm hanging from it. But it did not keep her from staring.

 

 

~~

 

 

As soon as Sharon’s hand was inside that gauntlet, there was a change. The world itself seemed to stop. When she spread her other, barely-visible, hand out in front of her, she could sense every cell. The sensation sent a wave of panic through her and she was clenching a fist, willing it to stop. Those around her, who had been wading forward as if through mud, halted suddenly, frozen.

 

Everything had stopped. Except for the glowing of the green gem and her own rapid heartbeat. Slowly, tentatively, she turned her attention upon the problem at large: Thanos. Dissipated herself across time: beheaded his adult form, burned his army, suffocated a purple child in its sleep. The blood was necessary, and Sharon cared little for her own soul.

 

Then she returned to the present. Her present. Took her gleaned knowledge and untwined Thanos’ blight, restoring those he had taken from the universe – and increasing the amount of natural resources, too. Removed the wasps.

 

Took a breath, back in the Wakandan atrium. Then the soul stone glowed, powered by Stark’s sacrifice, and her eyes fluttered shut. She let herself feel. Thor’s pain burned the strongest – new, raw, and bloody. But there was relief, washing in from all sides. Shuri, Natasha, Rhodes, Clint, Okoye, Bruce (a message from California, Sharon found herself knowing, was about to be received on his phone – his cousin was alive and well), Phil, Carol, Daisy, Scott, Rocket… But Nebula’s grief was cold; a chilling, gnawing anger that would destroy her, if it had not already.

 

Then there was Steve. Despite having his best friends reforming and the great evil of the day vanquished, he grieved. It was an old, festered wound – one that had been ripped open again at the loss of Tony. When Sharon looked at him, the rest of the universe seemed to dull in comparison. There was relief, of course, and happiness but it was dim.

 

Sharon made a decision. For the Avengers. For her friends. To right the wrongs that the universe had done to them. Her eyes burned, and she materialised again, her background a deep emerald green. At her side? Diaries. Books filled with years of fearful scribbling and hastily recorded memories and classified intelligence.

 

Bequeathed them to her twenty-one-year-old self, fresh out of the academy. Or at least, hid them in her home. If there was one thing that had not changed over the past nine years, it was her handwriting.

 

Then she was behind Steve, a hand on his shoulder. He deserved happiness. She wanted happiness for him, even if that meant that he was no longer in her life. But he was too selfless to ask for it, she knew that and could see it more clearly than she ever had before. Even if it hurt, she knew that it was for the best. Sacrificing her future with him so that others could have theirs. There was no room for doubt or hesitation - nor could she hold on forever. Her blood was pounding in her ears now, pressure building in her chest that was not just anxiety, a layer of cold sweat lingering on the surface of her skin. Fatigue was closing in.

 

So, she hurled his mind through time. Sent him back into the body of his era, her parting words nothing more than a guiding wish, not trusting herself to speak from her heart:

 

_“This is your chance for a do-over. Make it right.”_

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm still angry about Infinity War. A sequel has been planned but actually writing it is unlikely to be anytime soon (unless this explodes with comments & I feel obliged to l o l).


End file.
